Security worries Afghans

Many problems plague army and police force; screening a big task

Published 12:36 am, Tuesday, June 28, 2011

KABUL, Afghanistan -- For someone who had once joined an insurgent group, and whose family was tied to a top Taliban commander, Akmal's pathway into the Afghan National Army was strikingly easy.

The district governor who approved his paperwork had never met him. A village elder who was supposed to vouch for him did little more than verify his identity.

No red flags went up when, after six weeks in the army, he deserted. He returned more than three months later and was allowed to rejoin.

"I told them I got sick," Akmal recalled.

Now Akmal, 18, who like many Afghans goes by one name, could face the death penalty for his admitted part in a suicide bombing May 22 that killed six people on the grounds of the Afghan national military hospital.

He also helped in another suicide attack in February on a shopping mall in the capital, he said in an interview with The New York Times after his capture last month.

President Barack Obama's announcement last week of troop withdrawals from Afghanistan made clear that more than ever the onus is on Afghans to take responsibility for their own security. But the story of how Akmal went from jihadist to Afghan soldier and back again demonstrates the many problems that plague the Afghan army and police force. Interviews with intelligence officers, family members and other conspirators supported Akmal's account. The Taliban never asked Akmal to join the Afghan National Army, he said. But once inside, he proved a useful tool. So have many others, NATO data show.

As NATO hurries to build an Afghan security force of nearly 400,000 members by the end of 2014, Afghan military and intelligence officials concede that the task of screening the more than 8,000 army and police recruits who enlist each month is monumental.

Like many others, Akmal enlisted to escape poverty. But his heart remained with the insurgency.